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Amis tribe was
traditionally a matrilineal based society
where men married into brides’ families and
off springs carried mothers’ last name
instead. Though only women had rights to
inheritances, historically men were in
charge of business and organization affairs.
Adult men were given significant amount of
social responsibilities.
Ø Since
Amis has been a matrilineal society,
traditional marriages were centered on
women’s side of families where sons carried
fathers’ last names and daughters carried
mothers’ last name. Women had rights to
choose their own husband. Take an example of
the seventh song in the group of 14 Masarut
songs. The song “Mama’s children” expressed
the spirits of husband choosing ceremonies
in which men dressed in bright and colorful
traditional costumes and carried a shoulder
pack. Men were grouped into circles to sing
and dance while women gathered around outer
circles and focused on choosing a good
husband. When located a target, the woman
walked to her desired man and took away his
courting bag. This gesture implied women’s
courting of men and chosen men were
obligated for marriages. During the
traditional ceremony of Masarut, priests
were not used to microphones. Because of
media interviews, celebrants were asked to
use microphones. Worship dance in festivals
of sacrifice required holding other’s pinkie
fingers while Masarut dance encouraged
holding hands with one another.
Ø A
man’s courting of a woman could be very
challenging. During the courting, men must
send firewood to women’s families secretly
with revealing their identities. This
process would last for few months until
women’s families accepted men.
Ø Married
women had rights to divorce their husbands
as result of dissatisfactions in marriages.
Throwing men’s knifes out to the door
symbolized a demand for divorce.
Note:
celebrant: ci gow wa sai
Festival of sacrifice: li cin.
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Traditional
Costumes
Traditional Amis male costumes are well
known for one-piece skirt and pants. As far
as colors are concerned, red and black are
most popular. In general, there are three
layers in Amis clothing. The first layer is
a warrior skirt
(Picture 1) tied on the waist to
cover behind; the second layer is a pair of
one-piece pants
(Picture 2) surrounding the waist and
cover legs; the last layer is Fataan style
skirt (Picture 3)
made up with a total of five fabric strips
in red, white, blue, white, and red colors;
most importantly, the lower part of the
costumes are made up with numerous thin
fabric strips to ensure lower bodies are
completely covered. While the bright and
colorful fabric strips move along with
warriors’ dance, the motions sometimes repel
mosquitoes.
Males are supposed to hang the front part of
their costumes over their shoulder when
using the restrooms to prevent contaminating
their costumes.
Picture 1
Picture
2
Picture 3
Amis female costumes are made with up
adornments for head, floral hats decorated
with beads, white feather, and glitters
while top part are made up with short
sleeves or long sleeves shirts in red and
black. In additions, black skirts are
decorated with colorful narrow stripes and
the edges of the skirts are embroidered
beautifully.
In addition, females fasten black and white
fabric strips on their legs with thin ropes.Top
Courting bag
Courting bags (Picture
4) symbolize men’s courting of women.
A woman takes a courting bag from whomever
she favors the most. In old days, courting
bags were filled with something other than
cigarettes and betel nuts.
Picture 4
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Knife
After a male turns an adult at the age of
15, he will be receiving iron materials for
making his first knife
(Picture 5) also including a knife
handle, a knife sharpener, and a knife
pocket.
(Picture 5)
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